The nonprofit organization, which works to create a safer college environment
for LGBT students, released its ranking in alphabetical order, thereby avoiding
saying one school is better than another. Campus Pride did, however, be sure
to emphasize its list was far better than the Princeton Review's ranking of the
most LGBT-friendly schools.

"Unlike the Princeton Review LGBT rankings, the Campus Pride Index is based
in research on policy, program and practice and is conducted 'for and by' LGBT
experts in the field of higher education," wrote Campus Pride in a statement.

The education services company has a rather lengthy methodology, but largely
relies on its survey of 130,000 college students. Three Massachusetts schools
also made the Princeton Review's cut, however, although none actually overlapped
with those lauded by Campus Pride: Emerson College (No. 3), Smith College (No. 4)
and the Olin College of Engineering (No. 8).

For a college to be considered by Campus Pride, it had to achieve five stars overall,
as well as have the highest percentages across the eight LGBT-friendly benchmarks
for policy, program and practice. The added good news is, 80 percent of the nonprofit's
participating colleges improved their ratings from the previous year and that, over the
past six years, an increasing amount of schools have made significant strides in
improving life on campus.

"More than ever, colleges today want to be viewed as LGBT-friendly and a welcoming
place for all students," said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, in
a statement. "LGBT students and their safety impacts the recruitment efforts of the
entire campus. Upper-level administrators are now understanding how LGBT-friendliness
is key to future institutional success."

For a look at the full list of campuses setting a good example, start scrolling: